Earlier this week, Shiv Sena MPs Shrirang Barne and Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil met urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi and urged him to consider Pimpri Chinchwad as a separate entry. They had argued that in case of joint listing, the Union government's funds will have to be shared by the two cities.

Pune mayor Dattatreya Dhankawde and municipal commissioner Kunal Kumar too had opposed the move arguing that Pune fulfills all the criteria for its inclusion in the smart city project as a separate entity.

The UD ministry, which was expected to announce the list of 100 smart cities this week, postponed the move following objections that Maharashtra's list of 10 cities actually includes 11 cities as Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad are shown as a combined entry. The other nine cities in the list are Mumbai, Nashik, Nagpur, Amravati, Solapur, Aurangabad, Kalyan-Dombivli, Navi Mumbai and Thane. The Centre has left it to the state to decide which city should be deleted from the list.

Fadnavis said, "The state wants both Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad to be a part of the project. We are in talks with the Centre and we hope a positive reply on the inclusion of 11 cities from the state instead of 10," he said.

The CM said his government's policy was to select one city from each revenue division. "If we follow the policy, we can propose only one city from the Pune division. We don't want this to happen. Hence, we have considered a common proposal for Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad," he said.

"We have told the Union government that both cities can be considered under the urban agglomeration because they have common public transportation and common police commissionerate," Fadnavis told reporters on the sidelines of a function organized to launch the CCTV surveillance project in the city.

Top PMC and PCMC officials, however, rebuffed the CM's claim that the state had no option but to propose a combined entry. "The state has proposed four cities namely, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan Dombivali and Thane from the same region. Do they have any services in common? They too are part of the same revenue region and urban agglomeration. Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad can easily qualify for the project as separate entries. The state is forcing the two cities to share funds," a senior bureaucrat told TOI.

'Pune's surveillance project unique in country'

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said that an advanced surveillance system will help the city police in detection and prevention of crime and maintain law and order. He said that Pune is the first city in the country to have such an advanced surveillance system and smart policing.

Fadnavis said the government was thinking of a similar system in Mumbai with a plan to set up about 6,000 cameras. The work of first zone is expected to get over in November while the entire city will come under CCTV surveillance by October 2016, he said.

Fadnavis also said that the government has taken steps to increase rate of conviction. "The rate has gone up to 32% recently from about 8% which was three years back. We want to reach to 50% mark", he said.

'Every district will have medical college'

Speaking a function at the Sassoon general hospital, the chief minister said that his government plans to open at least one medical college in every district. He said the project will be implemented on a public private partnership (PPP) basis. About 50% districts in the state still do not have a single medical college, he said.

Fadnavis also assured Ganapati mandals of a peaceful Ganesh festival and promised to address their concerns on priority. He said the local police will be instructed to withdraw cases registered against the mandals and their workers.